Chief justice gets death threat over Estrada trial
Chief justice gets death threat over Estrada trial
MANILA (AFP): Philippine Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide on Friday read out a death threat sent to him for presiding over the corruption trial of President Joseph Estrada for allegedly taking bribes from illegal gambling bosses.
The letter, written on stationery from the office of Vice President Gloria Arroyo, assailed him for supposedly turning on Estrada and warned him: "We the Filipino people find you guilty for the crime of betrayal of public trust.
"Therefore you are hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of death, together with your family and relatives," Davide read from the letter during the hearing.
He said he did not believe the letter came from Arroyo who now heads an opposition coalition seeking to unseat Estrada over the corruption allegations.
Arroyo's spokesman Renato Corona said she condemned the threat and charged that the letter was part of a "black propaganda campaign" by pro-Estrada groups against the vice president.
Davide told the court he would continue his duties "even if it would call for the sacrifice of my own life."
This came as prosecutors said they would enter as evidence, proof that first lady Luisa Ejercito and an Estrada friend, William Gatchalian, received huge checks from the president's alleged bribe-collector, provincial Governor Luis Singson.
The copies indicated Ejercito received an eight-million-peso ($157,000) check while Gatchalian received a 46-million-peso check from Singson in 1999.
Congressman Joker Arroyo, one of the prosecutors, remarked that Ejercito did not list the check in her statement of assets and hinted that she could be called to testify, saying "the first lady has to explain what the money is for."
The Senate also threatened Friday to cite Jaime Dichaves, another businessman friend of Estrada, for contempt unless he answers accusations that he covered up bank accounts allegedly used by the president to store millions of dollars in bribes.
Dichaves was summoned to appear by Monday to explain why he should not be punished for claiming to be the true owner of an account which a senior banker has said was set up under a false name by the president.
"There appears to be a deliberate and malicious intent on the part of Mr. Dichaves to mislead and make a mockery of the proceedings of the impeachment court," Senate President Aquilino Pimentel said.
In December, Dichaves sent a letter to the court saying he was the true owner of an Equitable PCI Bank account held under the name of "Jose Velarde."
Later that month, bank senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo testified she saw Estrada sign the name "Jose Velarde" to the 500 million peso ($9.6 million) trust account.
Ocampo also said Dichaves later signed several other documents that would have transferred ownership of the account to him.
Prosecutors have been trying to link the account, and several others, to allegations that Estrada received huge bribes from illegal gambling lords and skimmed off government funds.
Estrada was impeached in the House of Representatives in November. If convicted by the Senate, he would be removed from power.
Meanwhile, a parallel Senate hearing into allegations that government agents spied on officials conducting the trial was indefinitely suspended Friday after a police officer, who would supposedly prove such spying, failed to appear.
During the trial Friday, bank and government employees confirmed the authenticity of several documents related to the charges that Estrada skimmed off a fund intended to help the tobacco industry.
About 5,000 people staged a demonstration in the financial district of Makati on Friday to demand Estrada's ouster, carrying banners saying "guilty" and "resign."
Among those taking part in the protest was Vice President Arroyo, former president Corazon Aquino as well as three spectators who were thrown out of the trial gallery on Thursday by pro-Estrada Senator Miriam Santiago for looking at her "in a provocative way."